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Benefit to help faily in need

International adoption running into red tape                          

 

By Brian Morelli
Iowa City Press-Citizen

Friends are putting on a benefit for a mother and daughter who remain stuck in Vietnam waiting for an international adoption to go through.

Karla Brendler, an Iowa City resident and Horace Mann Elementary teacher, traveled to Vietnam in October to complete the adoption of Madison, now 1, and then return to the U.S with her. However, after the adoption went through Oct. 26, the U.S. State Department refused to issue Madison a visa.

"There have been a lot of delays and government red tape for her and for about 20 other families that had gone to Vietnam to adopt," said Renee Tonning, a Horace Mann staff member who is helping organize the benefit. "The short story is that Karla and Madison are still in Vietnam; the last two people that have been affected by this."

You can read the full story here.

Millville woman's agonizing wait for adoption ends with happy homecoming

By EDWARD VAN EMBDEN Staff Writer

Published: Saturday, March 22, 2008

MILLVILLE - There's a light-up Valentine's Day heart still hanging in the window facing the street.

On the threshold to the dining room, standing out against the country home decor, is a Christmas tree with recently opened presents underneath.

Tommi Lynn Sawyer's goal when she boarded a flight back to the United States in October without her legally adopted daughter was to get Anabelle home before Christmas.

She couldn't, and for five months the decorations stayed up.

After all that time, it was a simple e-mail upholding visa approvals by the State Department, sent by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, that brought Sawyer's child home Wednesday.

Click here for full text

Baby girl adopted in Vietnam arrives in Camarillo

Long-awaited U.S. visa is finally granted

By Rachel McGrath, Correspondent
Monday, March 3, 2008

For the first time in five months, Julie Carroll is finally holding her baby daughter Madelyn Grace in her arms.

It's a moment that Julie and husband Steve sometimes thought would never come.

The U.S. government had denied the little girl entry into the country after the Carrolls adopted 11-month-old Madelyn Grace, whom they call Maddy Grace, and another baby girl, Lillian Rose, in Vietnam in September.

The reunion Sunday brought an end to a long and sometimes bitter struggle that went all the way to Washington, D.C., before finally being resolved.

"We are complete," Julie Carroll, 37, said as she arrived back at the family home in Camarillo to be greeted by friends, family members and neighbors.

 

Photo by James Glover II

Full story: http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/mar/03/baby-girl-adopted-in-vietnam-arrives-in/

Symbol of Saigon: Cyclos to be completely banned by June 2008

by Anna Brones   Mar 2nd 2008

It was a hot afternoon in Saigon. I was sitting in a small plastic chair, busy drinking an iced Vietnamese coffee, when a smiling man came up to me.

"City cyclo tour? I give best one. So good, I'm in magazine. Magazine comes by I wave and say hello and they take picture."

Sure enough, there he was smiling brightly, smack dab in the center of a long article about cyclo city tours. When I told him "no, thank you very much," that obviously wasn't good enough for an answer, so he proceeded to leaf through a small, worn book that he was carrying. He pulled out two plasticized 3x5 cards and laid them down on the table. They were consumer testimonials. He had many in his book, probably in over 10 languages, but he put down one in English and one in French for me.

See full text at http://www.gadling.com/2008/03/02/
symbol-of-saigon-cyclos-to-be-completely-banned-by-june-2008/

Orphans seek shelter at pagoda

VietNamNet Bridge – In the late afternoon, in the yard of Bo De pagoda in Gia Lam district, Hanoi, a group of children were playing. Some small babies wearing brown clothes were toddling. They are orphans seeking shelter.

 

These children live in an old house at the back of the pagoda. Inside, there is around 40sq.m and camp beds are arranged in a row, leaving a small path. The furniture in the room is very old. The room is littered with clothes and napkins.

 

Senior monk Thich Dam Lan and the five-day baby.

See http://english.vietnamnet.vn/features/2008/03/771156/ for full story

Adoption ordeal nears conclusion

Monday, Feb 04, 2008

By MELODIE N. MARTIN, TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

Jim Cameron and Tracy Sumner have spent nearly three months and 8,400 miles apart waiting for U.S. government permission to bring their adopted baby home.

They were among at least a dozen American families who adopted children in Vietnam this past fall but were unable to obtain visas that would allow the children to enter the United States.

Full text: http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/news.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-02-04-0129.html